Many people want to know how to find the ultra-elusive Tengen Tetris, or the Arkanoid controller that they sold to buy the SNES. Well, here's all my tips on finding those pieces of your childhood. If you have another tip, email me.
1) Ask your friends. It's surprising how many collectors do not do this. Many times, your friends will give/sell/ or trade you their games. You should always ask a friend to give you games first. Once they know that you'll pay money, giving is no longer an option.
2) Go to a pawn shop. Pawn shops often have thousands of Nintendo games for pennies. I know some that sell for $1 to $3 each. The only problem with pawn shops is that if the game doesn't work, it's nonrefundable.
3) Go to a used Nintendo dealer. Funcoland, Swap USA, Microplay, Video Game Exchange, and others offer NES games for discount prices. Most of them offer warranties, but at a cost. The prices are much higher than pawn shops. (Microplay mean prices are $4.95, $5.95, and $6.95)
4) Haggle with dealers. This tip is golden. For those of you who don't know, haggling is arguing with a dealer to drop the price. If a guy at "Misc NES" is selling Super Mario Bros. for $20 used, call him on his shit. Be patient and wait for them to give. Don't be afraid to walk out of the store. Finally, the best tip is to say not-to-loudly-but-audible-to-others that you can get the game somewhere else for cheaper, and/or the store is a rip-off :) However, don't over do it. If you use this too many times, they might call the store to see if your telling the truth, and if you're too loud, they might kick you out.
5) Go to Toy's R Us/Kmart/Walmart or any other discount store. It's rare to see any NES games at these places, but some do have some. At Toy's R Us, I bought my TOP LOADER (sweet :), and at Kmart I bought Slalom used and Zoda's Revenge new for $9.99. I know that Kmart buys their games from video rental places, but they mark all their games $9.99.
6) Look in the Classified section of a newspaper and the Internet. Classified are good sources for finding games... sometimes. The Internet has a wealth of pages, newsgroups, chat rooms, and black markets that sell NES games at fixed prices. The problem is, of course, that you will meet a lot of assholes who don't have the game who asked them, (they'll send you MIME messages with a list of all their games) people who are just plain rude, and rip-off artists.
7) Go to a video game rental store. OK, it's really rare to find a blockbuster or any video game rental place that still has NES games for clearance sale (not rent), but it is possible. I recommend to try the steps listed above first. Otherwise, be prepared to sacrifice sleep for that copy of Dragon Warrior IV.
8) Go to an Internet Auction Service. This is a great way to find games. http://www.ebay.com has around 400 to 600 at any one given time. If you wait a while, eventually everything goes on ebay. Also, since people can comment on how the buyer or seller does their transactions, most ebay users are the deal thing. However, I use this as a last resort. The problem is that you're completing with all the ebay users who want that game too. Thus, price wars develop, and suddenly you end up paying $20.00 for a mediocre game, and shipping a bitch too. It's way too easy to spend money that you don't have. This is what I suggest for ebay:
* ebay asks you for your maximum bid, the most money you're willing to pay for a game, PUT IN YOUR MAXIMUM BID AND DON'T GO OVER IT!!!
* Don't bid until the last possible second.(All the real pros do this) At about five minutes until the auction ends, start monitoring the auction by constant reloading the page. Then with about two or three minutes left. Put in your maximum bid. Since most buyers don't do this, it greatly increases your odds of winning.
* Never pay more than you want to on shipping. Sure, priority mail can get to you in two to three days, but can you wait five and pay only between a dollar and $1.69? If you can, ask the seller; they usually will be understanding. Also, if you win more than one game, ask to combine shipping. this will save you a few dollars.
*Here is my rough pricing guide / shipping included on how much I will spend on a NES game on ebay. A loser (Castlequest): $3 max. SMB/Duck Hunt: not worth it, go to Microplay. A well-sold game (Rampage, Super mario 2, most games there): $8. Unknown game: $8 Rare game (Mega Man 6) $20 Very rare game (unopened Dragon Warrior IV, Arkanoid w/ controller) $50 Extremely rare game (Tengen Tetris, used or unopened) $80 and higher, but think about how badly you want it. ( I bought my Tengen Tetris for $77, it's worth it as a collector's item, but not as a game.)